A Second Chance
by Lynxnn
Summary: Isla Nublar is being restored after the Jurassic World Disaster. But no one thought they would rebuild the park after all the lives that had been lost. And in a sense the park was not reopened. Instead they built something worse. But maybe this time, they will have a chance to get things right.
1. Chapter 1

The clean up crew, as they were dubbed, had done a pretty damn good job of fixing Isla Nublar. All evidence there used to be a theme park there, a _dinosaur_ theme park, had been erased. All human evidence was packed up and shipped out - all the old buildings and metal parts were gone. The island had suffered a number, and it needed time to recuperate. Meaning the botanists had a field day.

So there I was, surveying the island and writing up numerical reports and estimates, when I saw an egg. Not a bird egg, unless that bird was an ostrich. No, this egg was large and oval shaped. It was partway buried in the ground, the insulation from the dirt could have kept it alive. I crouched down and poked it, my finger froze as I nudged it. It was warm, and very much alive.

I quickly backed away, panicking only slightly. There weren't any dinosaurs left on the island, were there? No...no that would be impossible. All prehistoric life forms had been, per say, dealt with after the Jurassic World disaster. The island had been under government contamination task force for that past half year, the goal was to restore the entire island back to its original state for its next experiment.

So why was there an egg less than an inch away from my foot.

The better question, what was I going to do?

"Neilson, Parr, get over here!" I called out to my assistants. They jogged over to me and hovered over my shoulder. I didn't need to point out what I had seen, they were looking right at it.

"Is that..."

I nodded. "Head over to the base and phone Dr. Richard," I ordered quietly. Parr turned to run off, I grabbed his sleeve and whispered urgently in his ear.

"This remains top secret until Dr. Richard says otherwise,"

Andy Parr gave a terse nod to say he understood. I released him and watched him jog off to base camp, little more than a few tents and a helicopter.

"Do you think there are more eggs out there?" Mark Neilson said as he motioned to the jungle before us.

"If the clean up crew missed one they could have missed hundreds," I muttered more to myself than to Mark.

"Well it shouldn't be too much of a problem anyways, its an Anchiceratops, an herbivore," Mark gave a half shrug.

"How can you tell?" I scoffed. He pointed to the egg.

"See it's shape? All dinosaur eggs have different shapes. I used to work in the labs you know. Now I'm trying to fix the mess I helped create," he sighed. I whirled around to face him.

"You worked in the labs?" I exclaimed. He didn't need to affirm I had heard him correctly, the distanced look in his eyes said it all.

"Over a hundred people died, a fact easily overlooked by the media once they got wind that there would not be a reopening of the park," Mark said bitterly. "Over a hundred families were destroyed, and the world didn't give a damn once they found out they weren't going to go pet a dinosaur over spring break,"

I didn't know how to respond. I reached out to hug him, and I settled on awkwardly patting his back once. I let my hand fall away and we stood in silence. Andy came up behind us and scared the living daylights out of me as he began talking in a rush.

"Dr. Richards said to package the egg and take it back to his tent at the base where he would examine it. He notified the classified clean up crew members to go out and hunt for more eggs,"

Without question I delicately picked up the egg and slid it into a padded and insulated pack Andy had brought back.

"Let's go," I instructed once the egg was secure.

"Arbor," Mark said suddenly, I stopped walking at the sound of my name.

"They aren't rebuilding the park, are they?" he asked warily, his eyes on the egg. I moved it out of his view in a protective gesture. I didn't know if I could answer his question. I didn't know for myself what the government had planned for the island. At first I thought rebuilding he park would have been impossible. Most of the DNA information and genetic coding had been lost after the disaster. But now we had an egg, a living egg which would hatch in a few weeks.

Without responding I spun around and headed over to Dr. Richards tent, the egg securely in my clutches.


	2. Chapter 2

I was impressed with how much equipment Dr. Richards had managed to squeeze into his tent. All sorts of microscopes and test tubes filled the space.

"Arbor, hand me the syringe," he instructed and he handled the egg with latex gloves. I obliged and eagerly observed the process. I had worked with Dr. Richards since I became his intern almost five years ago, fresh out of college. I looked up to him, I had idolized him, and now we were equals. Each working as partners on the same team.

"This breed of dinosaur is an-,"

"Anchiceratops," I interrupted. Dr. Richards smiled and chuckled to himself. He set the egg down in an incubator removed his gloves. He crossed his arms and leaned against a table while studying me.

"Can I trust you with something, Arbor?" he questioned.

"Anything," I vowed.

"This is highly classified, I wasn't even supposed to know about it. But I do have ears on the inside," he wasn't making eye contact with me, he was looking at the egg.

"The government wants this island cleaned for purposes other than being environmentally friendly. They don't want anything on it which could interfere with their experiments," he continued. I was frowning at this point, I didn't like where this was headed.

"They are going to reintroduce dinosaurs to the island, their scientists will observe how their ecosystem works and functions. The outside world will have no knowledge of this,"

"Is that bad, just having the dinosaurs exist here in peace?" I asked in confusion.

"It gets worse. Bit by bit, the scientists will introduce new elements to the environment, to see how the dinosaurs will react. To see if they will evolve. Now I don't know if this plan will carry through or not, but one thing they want to test out, is how humans will survive in a prehistoric world,"

"What?" I shrilled. "Are volunteers just gonna waltz on over here and wave signs saying 'eat me! eat me'!"

"This whole mission is classified as you know, so I have a feeling it will be less volunteers and more...unfortunate souls,"

"What are you going to do about it?" I whispered.

"I am going to do everything I can to prevent them from getting ahold of the dinosaurs genetics," he promised. My eyes flickered over to the egg.

"I won't kill it, but I will hide it and let nature take its course - without human intervention,"

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I need you to help me with this. The eggs can't stay on Isla Nublar. You need to transport them to a neighboring island. Isla Ciaru,"

"How many eggs have you found so far?" I asked, my eyes narrowing.

"Forty eight. Forty nine including this one," he sighed.

"What are the species?"

"I can't list them all off the top of my head. Mostly herbivores. Some carnivores...I just need to know if you can help me with this,"

"I'll do what I can," I said, although I didn't want too. Dr. Richard grasped my shoulder.

"Take care of yourself, Arbor. I'll have you and your crew deposit the eggs within the week. But listen closely, once you get the eggs on Isla Ciaru you get off that island," Dr. Richard warned, his voice was dangerously low. I nodded and stepped out of his tent to mull things over. I was sweating from the stress of evening thinking about all of this. I headed over to my own tent to sleep on it.


	3. Chapter 3

The boat looked like a shrunken down navy battle ship. The last of the crates of eggs were being bored. Dr. Richard was making tallies on a clip board and I was twisting a bracelet on my wrist, a _new bracelet._

Dr. Richard, or Evan as he instructed me to call him, had given it to me less than ten minutes ago. It was made out of leather and had turquoise beads on it. A going away present as he had called it. I wondered if it meant something more. I wondered if I wanted it to mean something more...

"Ready to go, Arbor?" Mark asked as he approached me. He had a backpack slung over his shoulder and a Jurassic Park hat on his head. I laughed at the irony of it and stood up.

"All set," I smiled. I quickly tied my brunette hair up into a pony tail and adjusted the bracelet. I was wearing hiking boots, cargo shorts, a T-shirt and a jacket. Evan said the island was rugged, it hadn't been tamed in the slightest. My team and I were going to be shipped there by boat and deposited on the beach. We would each have a pack of half a dozen eggs. From the beach we would head inland. The terrain was going to require some hiking to reach the drop off point for the eggs. When Evan had hiked the island a few months back he had found fossilized nests from dinosaurs. We would leave the eggs there to hatch or die. And then we would get out.

I scuffed my boots on the metal ramp leading me up the boat. Dr. Richards was watching me board, I managed to flash him a half smile before I disappeared into a cabin. I dropped my duffle bag on my bunk and pulled out my island map. I wanted to familiarize myself with it as much as possible before the big journey.

I could feel the ship lurching into motion as its engines sputtered to life. I closed the map and popped a couple aspirin to help with sea sickness. I wished we could have flown a helicopter in, but unfortunately there was no where to land it on the mountainous and forested island.

"Mark, who all is on our mission?" I asked as Mark entered the bunk cabin. He scratched the back of his neck and listed off names.

"You, me, Andy, a navy sergeant Melissa, and four body guards- Muhammad Simon Greg and Vincent,"

"Are you nervous?"

"What, about the mission. It will be a piece of cake, we drop off some eggs and bust ass out of there,"

"I don't know, I just get a bad feeling about it," I shrugged.

"Why, is your lover not here to protect you?" Mark mocked Dr. Richard, err, Evan. I slapped his arm.

"Shut up!" I snapped, but I couldn't help but laugh as well. Mark surrendered his teasing and sat down on his bunk.

"Any idea's about what Isla Nublar will be used for now that we kidnapped all the governments dinosaurs?" Mark snickered.

"They'll probably forget about it and focus their attention on some war somewhere," I sighed.

"Or the government will come after us and execute us all in federal prison," Mark gave another idea. My mouth hung open.

"Why in the hell would you say something like that?" I exclaimed in horror. Mark laughed at my ridiculous expression.

"Kidding, Arbor. Chill out, this operation is only slightly illegal,"

I glared at him and pursed my lips. "You aren't very funny," I muttered. Suddenly a gravely voice burst out over the ships intercom. Since it was the only other female voice aboard the ship, I assumed it was Melissa.

"All operators report to main deck immediately," she said with no room for debate. Mark and I quickly exited the bunk rooms and headed up the stairs. The instant I opened the door to the deck a blast of salty sea air hit me. Surrounding the ship on all sides was dark blue ocean, the waves had white crests on them and gulls squalled in the distance. Isla Nublar was well out of sight.

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Melissa. She was tan and had leathery skin. Her eyes were so dark they almost looked black. Her hair was short and cropped to keep it out of the way - but it was unruly and curly and lay in a black mass on her head. She was wearing a blue uniform with her hands clasped behind her back. I decided quickly she looked honorable, but there was something I didn't quite trust behind her dark eyes.

"Attention," her voice boomed. It seemed to carry for miles, like she had shouted the word right into my ear. I stood stock still with my green eyes glued to her face.

"I am leader of this mission, and you all will answer to me. Before you act, ask me. Before you think, ask me. Before you do anything that could jeopardize our crew, ask me. We will arrive on Isla Ciaru at roughly 22 hundred hours. Dinner is in the break room, I expect everyone to be there in thirty minutes,"

The crew mumbled out yes ma'ms and dispersed. I stayed up on the top deck and watched the ship cruise over the deep sea. For some reason I had a shaky feeling in my stomach, and this feeling wasn't caused by sea sickness.


	4. Chapter 4

Dinner was filled with awkward silence and the scraping of forks against plates. Melissa tore apart her steak and chewed it like the cow had personally wronged her. Her eyes darted about the room, never settling on one place for more than a few seconds. I delicately cut my stake and chewed each bite carefully. Mark and Andy were seated on either side of me, looking about as comfortable as I felt.

The four body guards - I'd already forgotten their names - sat stoically and looked directly across the room without ever breaking eye contact from the wall. I tired to start up a conversation a few times but it died out pretty quickly. As soon as Melissa set her fork horizontal across her plate the bodyguards stopped eating as well. I exchanged glances with Andy and Mark, we all set out utensils down as well.

"Dinner is over, report back to your bunk rooms. I will awaken you at 400 hours precisely. Have your gear together because from there it's Isla Ciaru," Melissa barked. That was the longest sentence said all night. I followed the bodyguards out of the cabin and back to the bunk room - they remained passive as I wished them a good night.

* * *

Melissa kept to her promise and the cabin door was flung open not three seconds after 400 hours. Her hands clasped behind her back as she stood in a military stance, she had on her blue uniform and dog tags like we were going into combat. I wiped the sleep from my eyes and dressed in the same outfit I had worn on the shift; cargo shorts, hiking boots, and a tee shirt. The turquoise bracelet felt like a shackle so I slipped it off and dropped it into my backpack.

"Simon, Vincent, Muhammad, and Greg were waiting on lifeboat bobbing in the ocean like a buoy. Melissa scaled the side of the ship like a spider and dropped into the boat. I stood precariously on the railing before lowering myself with a rope. Vincent caught me securely around the waist and pulled me safely into the smaller boat. Andy and Mark were next, after a brief struggle with the rope they were panting next to me. The bodyguard handed us each a padded and insulated backpack filled with eggs. I strapped the egg bag on over my personal backpack.

I felt a breath of wind sharp against my neck and I turned to see Isla Ciaru rising up in the distance. The whole island was dense with trees and jagged cliffs - but there was supple beach and I wondered again why we weren't just flown in by chopper. Maybe there was too much wind? I had a bad feeling but pressed it down as the jitters.

"Remember we have four days to complete the mission. We hike to the nesting grounds, drop off the eggs, and hike back to the beach. Another boat will be waiting for us to take us back to Isla Nublar where we will be flown back to DC. If we are not on the beach in 96 hours we will be left here," Melissa said gravely.

"Why is the time schedule so crucial?" I asked. Even if the eggs did hatch in the next four days the dinosaurs would be too small to do any harm.

"The eggs aren't the only prehistoric creatures on the island," Simon said in a Spanish accent. The way Melissa's eyes flashed made me think he wasn't supposed to say that.

"What?" Mark exclaimed. "I was not informed we were going to a death zone!"

"We were told the island was uninhabited!" Andy chimed in, outraged. i was too stunned to speak. Melissa rubbed her temple before speaking.

"You know the truth, this will be dangerous, and for whatever reason Dr. Richard trusted you three to help us get the job done. And it _must_ be done. All will go according to plan, have no fear. We drop off the eggs and get back to the beach in 96 hours." she said frankly.

"And what if we refuse to help?" I demanded hotly. She looked me dead in the eye and a chill crawled up my spine.

"Then you wait on the beach and get eaten,"


	5. Chapter 5

Little red flags were popping up around every turn. Why were Mark Andy and I even going on this mission? We worked with test tubes and clip boards, not army operations. Like Melissa had said, for whatever reason Evan trusted us to get the job done. And we had no choice now, we were going onto Isla Ciaru whether we liked it or not. Simon and Vincent hopped out of the life boat once the waters were waist deep. They pulled us onto the rocky beach and the rest of us climbed out. Melissa scoured a map before pointing us East.

"What animals are on the island?" I whispered to one of the body guards, Muhammad I believe.

"Dinosaurs," he stated stoically. I didn't bother asking him to elaborate. I had a feeling he had a quota of three syllables a day and had just met that mark.

"Just stay close Arbor. Dr. Richars wouldn't have sent us here if he thought we were going to die," Andy said comfortingly. I adjusted the backpack of eggs and plowed ahead, keeping pace with Melissa.

"Do you work closely with Evan?" I questioned, slightly out of breath from her brisk pace.

"I've never met him before. I was hired for this mission by one of his assistants. He was too busy on Isla Nublar to speak to me himself."

I kept my head down and marched along in silence. We came across a footprint at some point during the hike. I recognized it as a T-rex and gulped. Andy and Mark took a few steps back as they saw the footprint as well. Melissa studied it closely before point the group in another direction, hopefully out of the dinosaur's path. I wondered if it was too late to turn around and go back to the beach. But Melissa had said if we stayed in one place to long something would stumble upon us and promptly eat us. I was safer in a group.

I still couldn't believe Evan had tricked me into going on this mission with the false assumption I would be safe. Every time I thought about how he promised it would be an easy drop off, in and out, I got more angry. I could die on this mission, or get hurt, or left behind if we didn't hit the 96 hour mark. Was my life so little to him?

Remembering the bracelet he had given me I decided to toss it. I fished around in my bag for a second before I found the leather and turquoise beaded accessory. I hooked my fingers around it and flung it at the nearest tree. Something white fell out of the bracelet. I glanced around but no-one had seen. I quickly pocketed the bracelet and slip of paper that had fallen out.

"Um, I need to pee," I whispered to Melissa. She rolled her eyes and checked her watch.

"3 minute rest brake," she declared. The body guards sat down on the grass and opened up their canteens to re hydrate. My assistants Mark and Andy did the same. I quickly scurried into the bushes to look at the paper. Evan had probably hid the paper int eh bracelet as a message, but what could it possibly say? I'm sorry you're walking into dino infested lands?

I unraveled the paper and looked closely and the tiny font.

 _Arbor, by now I'm sure you know this mission is more dangerous than it first appeared. I had no choice, I need you on Ciaru for a reason. I told you earlier back in my test the government was going to rehabilitate Isla Nubar for their experiments. I was lying, Isla Ciaru is the one where they are going to perform their experiments. Everyone on that mission is walking into a trap and there will be no boat waiting for you when you drop the eggs off. This was the only way I could think to warn you without the government finding out. After you drop off the eggs find your way to the South East beach instead of the Northern one you docked on. I've arranged a secret boat to get you all of the island._

My breath was caught in my throat at the revelation. The government had deceived us all into walking straight into their experiment. Dr. Ricahrds must have found out somehow and had been trying to warn me without being found out. I looked around the forest warily. Were there hidden cameras watching my every move? How could I tell the group if we were being watched?

Maybe I wasn't supposed to tell the group, that's why Evan had only given me the note. I would have to get us to the South East beach somehow without explicitly telling everyone why. In the note Evan said to drop off the eggs before going to the beach, meaning we still had to complete the mission. I supposed I would just go along with Melissa until we reached the nesting grounds.


End file.
